It’s fantasy football draft day and you are … not prepared.
Look, we get it. You’ve got a lot on your plate. It’s back-to-school season. You had to spend all of Tuesday analyzing every pixel in Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Instagram engagement post for Easter eggs. There’s only so much time in the day.
So let us help you get up to speed for your draft — fast. Here’s everything you need.
Knowledge of your league’s rules and scoring settings: You’d be shocked how many people don’t know how many points a passing touchdown is worth in their league. (No shade if you read that line and just checked your league settings. Now’s the time!) Make sure you grasp the basics before you draft.
Smart rankings: Patrick Mahomes is a great player and thus should be your first pick, right? Wrong! Fantasy isn’t reality, where winning NFL games matters most. Focus on projected points instead of Super Bowl rings, or just print out this handy cheat sheet from our uber-accurate senior fantasy writer, Jake Ciely.
A first-round pick: You need a cornerstone for this Canton-worthy roster you’re creating. The saying goes that you can’t win a fantasy league with your first-rounder, but you can lose it. So, if you’re looking to mitigate risk, you can’t go wrong with Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase. The other consensus top targets are Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs, Saquon Barkley, Justin Jefferson and CeeDee Lamb. The latter half of Round 1 offers more risk at running back, namely Raiders rookie Ashton Jeanty and the 49ers’ Christian McCaffrey, who has massive scoring potential but a track record of injuries and a reputation for ruining fantasy seasons.
The late-first wide receivers are a little safer, albeit infused with more youth: Amon-Ra St. Brown of the Lions, Giants rising star Malik Nabers, the Jaguars’ Brian Thomas and Texans’ Nico Collins.
An ethos: Say what you want for the tenets of the ZeroRB strategy (in which you wait until around Round 6 to take your first running back), but having a general plan for your roster can provide a playbook for your selections. Our advice? Try to maximize the value of each selection by using our visual guide in which you can see where the point projections drop off at each major position. See a big dip coming? Act fast. Flatter line? Feel free to wait.
Some munchies: Time to tank up. Like marathons, a fantasy draft is a terrific excuse to carbo load — though your mileage may vary on how many carbs you’ll burn during the main event. Dealer’s choice for your draft-day gnoshes, but we’d suggest some non-greasy grub you can ideally wield with one hand while managing your mouse with the other. Taquitos fit the bill nicely, and we wouldn’t say no to a bratwurst either …
Late-round enlightenment: If you were to scale the heights of the Himalayas to obtain one divine fantasy football insight from the Dalai Lama (HUGE Steelers fan), he would no doubt echo this advice: Don’t waste your bench on players with limited potential. Instead, draft high-upside players with pathways to big point-scoring potential if they ascend their NFL team’s depth chart. (As his holiness would say, “Choose to be optimistic. It feels better.”) Here’s a list of 17 key names to know in the later rounds, including players who might even be available on waivers after your draft ends.
An advisor: Need help picking between two players? Want to bounce a question off a savvy fantasy mind? Join The Athletic’s Fantasy Football Discord server and fire off your queries to some of the best-known fantasy analysts on the entirety of the Internet.
A sick burn: Enter your war room ready to roast your leaguemates because no draft is complete without a little trash talk. For the high-brow crowd, repurpose some of these barbs from The Bard, Bill Shakespeare. If witty repartee isn’t your thing, you can always just download the Shame Bell app (as seen on “Game of Thrones”) and ring it whenever you want to mock your opponent’s selections.
A name: Speaking of GoT, a team is no one until it has a moniker. If you need help, you can consult our list of 100 team name suggestions ranging from player name puns to actual fantasy names (“Why did Frodo Stop at One Ring?”). And yes, there’s even a section for Swifties.
An in-season resource: Fantasy titles aren’t won and lost on draft day, so stay up to date on the latest NFL info with The Athletic’s Scoop City newsletter, featuring a fantasy-specific installment every Tuesday, and a guest appearance on the podcast from Ciely every Thursday.
(Photo: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)